The legacy of "The Left"

[auntpurl]

14. The parliamentary system has its own problems

Case in point: the election a few years ago when the Conservatives won with a slight majority but the LibDems (basically the opposite of the Conservatives) won enough seats that they had to form a coalition government. Which meant David Cameron and Nick Clegg had to pretend to work together. It was a disaster. Cameron strong-armed the whole thing and because Clegg couldn't be effective, the LibDems lost almost ALL their seats in the next GE and are basically a non-entity at this point.

The other thing to remember about the British system is that they don't elect a PM in the way the US elects a president. They vote for their local MPs (like Congress members) and the party that gets the most seats chooses the PM. Now, generally people know who the leader of the party is and therefore who will be PM, but it's a bit different from voting for a specific person. It reduces the personality politics nature of it all. Whether or not that is a good thing - I'm not sure. But look at the Conservatives right now. When they voted in the GE last year, they were ostensibly voting for Cameron. Now, a year later, they've got Theresa May. There are no guarantees.